1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates, generally, to stimulus/response devices, and more specifically to such a device having utility in the educational or game context.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Although stimulus/response machines are well known, such devices have heretofore taken the form of electro-mechanical constructions characterized by a multiplicity of wired connections and by relatively cumbersome circuit-scrambling structures. Circuit-scrambling is highly desireable in the context of stimulus/response devices, because in the absence thereof the operator of such devices can learn the wiring pattern of the device, commit the same to memory, and thereby lose the education-enhancing effect of operating such a device.
More specifically, if an operator notices that a successful matching of stimuli always occurs when stimulus number 8, for example, from a first group of stimuli, is matched with stimulus number 3, for example, from a second group of stimuli, then the educational value of the device is short-circuited, so to speak. More particularly, a first group of stimuli may represent a first group of questions, and a second group of stimuli may represent a group of possible answers corresponding thereto. If no circuit scrambling is provided whenever a new group of questions is propounded, the operator of the device can correctly answer the new questions by simply remembering the physical location of the answer to the questions as previously numbered, without regard to the content of the question.
A need exists, however, for a device that scrambles the circuit connections between differing sets of questions and answers in the absence of cumbersome and expensive electro-mechanical devices. The preferred form of an ideal device would incorporate the advantages inherent in digital devices because such devices are inexpensive, require low power, and have the all-important capacity to store and retrieve virtually unlimited amounts of questions and answers, or stimuli and responses thereto of any form. An inventive use of digital devices could provide a means whereby the desired circuit scrambling could be accomplished in the absence of the jumbled electrical conductors which plague the devices of the prior art, and could provide means for performing the desired matching of stimuli at a very low cost.
The needed device does not appear in the prior art.